• Miguel Angel Gaxiola-García, José de Jesús Villalpando-Casas, Manuel García-Minjares, and Adrián Martínez-González.
• Plastic Surgery Department, Hospital Infantil de México "Federico Gómez", Mexico City, Mexico.
• Postgrad Med J. 2022 Apr 25.

IntroductionPerformance and selection rate of non-newly graduated physicians in a medical residency admission test as an indicator for the need of continuing education.MethodsA database comprising 153 654 physicians who took a residency admission test in the period 2014-2018 was analysed. Performance and selection rates were assessed in relation to year of graduation and performance in medical school.ResultsThe whole sample scored at a mean of 62.3 (SD ±8.9; range 1.11-91.11). Examinees who took the test in their year of graduation performed better (66.10) than those who took the test after their year of graduation (61.84); p<0.001.Selection rates differed accordingly; 33.9% for newly graduated physicians compared with 24.8% in those who took the test at least 1 year after graduation; p<0.001. An association between selection test performance and medical school grades was established using Pearson's correlation: r=0.40 for newly graduated physicians and r=0.30 for non-newly graduated physicians. There were statistically significant differences in selection rates for every ranking group of grades in medical school based on the χ2 test (p<0.001). The selection rates are decreased years after graduation even for candidates with high grades in medical school.DiscussionThere is an association between performance in a medical residency admission test and academic variables of the candidates: medical school grades and time elapsed from graduation to test taking. The evidence of decrease in retention of medical knowledge since graduation highlights the pertinence of continuing education interventions.© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Postgraduate Medical Journal. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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